Quick Summary of Post:
Class 3 and Class 4 Mining Lasers:
Large and Huge Class Mining Lasers finally arrived. Increased Power Draw and and energy output allows for quick deconstruction of the most difficult of asteroids. For the toughest of miners flying the biggest of mining rigs, the benefit of sacrificing multiple-medium sized lasers comes from the ability to blast larger portions of asteroid fragments away. The same number of Asteroid Fragments are abstracted but the amount of increased energy transferred allows for larger amounts of content to be abstracted per endeavor.
Engineer Modifications to Existing Mining Equipment:
Possible Experimental Effects for Mining Equipment:
New Mining Utility Mounts:
Microbial Furnace - (Utility Mount)
“Bio-engineered microbes that separate specific elements from powdered ore.
Produced on high tech worlds, their name is historic having replaced thermal furnaces for the refining or many ores.”
DETAILS:
Resonating Seperators - (Utility Mount)
“Self-calibrating tuned oscillators that resonate at a range of specific frequencies, used at refineries for bulk processing of ores.”
DETAILS:
Advanced Catalysers - (Utility Mount)
“Engineered catalysing agents, used by refineries to improve the efficiency of a large number of chemical reactions.”
DETAILS:
Mineral Extractors - (Utility Mount)
“Industrially produced 'grey goo' micro devices that are injected into minerals to separate specific constituents from mixed ores along grain boundaries. Extraction sites that utilise mineral extractors in their processes are significantly more efficient.”
DETAILS:
Bioreducing Lichen - (Utility Mount)
“Genetically engineered lichen used to prepare an asteroid field or broken surface rocks for industrial extraction. Once deployed the lichen will spread over the field and concentrate specific minerals, changing colour in the process, allowing for efficient extraction.”
DETAILS:
Mining Mission Recommendations:
Currently there are some issues regarding the adequacy of mining missions.
Available only at the Refinery Stations
Delivery Missions that Scale Per Tonne:
Ship Launched Mining Vessels (SLMV):
Sampling Mining Laser:
- Mining equipment throughout the centuries utilizes some of the largest machines that humanity can construct, everything from massive dump trucks to incredible excavators.
- Currently in-game there is little scalability in equipment, larger ships may have increased cargo space and more collector limpets but there is not a sense of equipment progression or a sense of increased skill in mining.
- This post attempts to add depth to the mining profession through creative equipment modifications and mission recommendations.
- Utilizing existing data points for Class extrapolation, I've started designing for the next bigger classes of Mining Lasers. Increasing the Class of Mining Lasers and adding additional features allows for a greater number of ships to participate in mining and mining wing support as well as adding depth and complexity to an already existing profession.
- Where possible I have worked to include existing commodities and other times that already exist in-game.
- Class 3 and 4 Mining Lasers
- Engineer Modifications to Existing Mining Equipment
- Possible Experiment Effects for Mining Equipment
- New Mining Utility Mounts
- Mining Mission Recommendations
- Ship Launched Mining Vessels
Class 3 and Class 4 Mining Lasers:
Large and Huge Class Mining Lasers finally arrived. Increased Power Draw and and energy output allows for quick deconstruction of the most difficult of asteroids. For the toughest of miners flying the biggest of mining rigs, the benefit of sacrificing multiple-medium sized lasers comes from the ability to blast larger portions of asteroid fragments away. The same number of Asteroid Fragments are abstracted but the amount of increased energy transferred allows for larger amounts of content to be abstracted per endeavor.
- Class 3 (Large Mining Laser): 50% Increase in Asteroid Fragment Content
- Example: An asteroid fragment harvested by Class 2 Medium lasers may expel an Asteroid Fragment with 5% Painite and 10% Osmium; using a Large Mining Laser would abstract a similar fragment except it would contain 7.5% Painite, and 15% Osmium.
- Class 4 (Huge Mining Laser): 100% Increase in Asteroid Fragment Content, same fragment as above but this time will expel a asteroid fragment containing 10% Painite and 20% Osmium.
- How do you resolve using 1x Huge with Mediums, or 2x Large with Medium Lasers, etc.?
- The Asteroid Fragment content is based on the highest rated mining laser making contact with the asteroid at the time the fragment is expelled. Therefore a Diamondback Explorer and Python using 2x Mediums and 1x Large can become much more efficient in abstracting content, but have to balance increase in content with significantly increased power draw. Similarly, a Cutter may become efficient with 1x Huge and 2x Mediums but be equally balanced against a Corvette that uses 2x Huge and simply decimates each rock while using the full content of their weapons power load.
| Class | Rating | Mass (T) | Integrity | Power Draw | Weapon Mode | Armor Pen | Thermal Load | Value (Cr) |
| Lance | D | 2.oo | A | 0.70 | Fixed | D | 3.0 | 13,600 |
| 1 | D | 2.oo | A | 0.50 | Fixed | D | 1.0 | 6,800 |
| 2 | D | 2.oo | A | 0.75 | Fixed | D | 2.0 | 22,576 |
| 3 | D | 7.00 | A | 1.20 | Fixed | D | 5.0 | 180,656 |
| 4 | D | 14.00 | A | 1.92 | Fixed | D | 9.9 | 722,624 |
Engineer Modifications to Existing Mining Equipment:
- Plasma Waste Electric-arc Recycling (PWER) (Modification to Refinery) - Allows for waste recycling and salvaging of nearly any materials to be added to the Refinery system for conversion into minerals. These include the commodities of Scrap, Chemical Waste, Biowaste, and Toxic Waste as well as any salvaged components found on battle fields or minerals and metals cut from ships using a Mining Laser with a Plasma Torch Experimental Effect. Each Grade allows for an increase in the variety of materials that can be added to the Refinery for recycling. This would allow for miners to salvage from wrecks, trash dumps, disposing of waste, etc. You can watch a great [video describing how it works].
- Grade 1 - Scrap - can be added to Refinery in 1 Ton Increments and is converted to Metals (RNG), metals not previously occupied with bins is discharged overboard as Vitrified Slag (new commodity) - from a list of Possible Output
- Grade 2 - Chemical Waste - plus previous Grades can be fed into the Refinery to expand the number of metals recovered specific to Chemicals Waste
- Grade 3 - Biowaste - plus previous Grades can be fed into the Refinery
- Grade 4 - Toxic Waste - plus previous Grades
- Outposts that need waste removed would could sell these commodities to Miners; Miners would go away from the station and convert/process them to new materials breaking them down into their base components, and sell them at the market. Discharging of Vitrified Slag would be finable as illegal dumping within a station perimeter, similar to discharging of Blackwater Sanitation Tanks (raw sewage) near shorelines.
- This allows for Salvaging of wreckage, subterranean surface mining of trash dump sites, recycling from battle fields, a new type of mining/recycling job.
- Surface Recovery System (Limpet Controller/Collector) - a modified short range collection system that allows for Fragments to be collected and efficiently transferred to the Refinery
- Increased laser guidance system allows Limpets to navigate the narrow ships undercarriage, allowing for surface collection allows for Asteroid Fragments and Surface Fragments
- Limpet controller maximum range is drastically reduced to half ships beam
- Limpet Controller / Prospector Class Rating Reduction - large class limpet controllers largely go unused because the ratio of cargo space gained to the number of limpet controllers is disproportionate, miners are met with diminishing returns, often miners replace low level cargo spaces with several controllers, however this modification takes the larger class system and gets rid of the waisted space and excess and optimizes performance. CMDRs would purchase a larger class system and then have it repacked to fit into the lower Class Internal Compartment. While this might seem overkill, fitting a Class 7 into a Class 5 will cost the Mining CMDR 6.3 million credits. With slight RNG changes for power, mass, and range.
- There is no way to reduce a Class 1 Limpet Controller to anything less than its current configuration, these are made with small children's hands.
- Grade 1 - Takes a Class 3 Limpet Controller and reduces it to fit into a Class 1 Internal Compartment
- Grade 2 - Takes a Class 5 fits into a Class 3
- Grade 3 - Takes a Class 7 fits into a Class 5
- Prospector Limpet Accelerator - gone are the days of having to wait for the prospector limpet to fly to its designated target, the accelerator system opens up the throttle allowing for faster flying prospector limpets. How does it achieve this feet? Simple, the engineers have designed it to take the rocket component off of one limpet and attach it as an additional rocket stage. Miner Science! If one is good then two is better, and three best. This increases the mass but the amount of thrust gained in expending additional limpet thrusters is worth it for the impatient Miner. This adds the synthesis of (3) grades of Prospector limpets in the synthesis menu. Additionally, there is a switch for automatic synthesis so that each prospector limpet fired utilizes the selected grade increase. This may burn through the limpets but it sure does make them go fast!
- Grade 1 - 200% Increase in Prospector Limpet Velocity but expends 2x Limpets per shot (1 prospector and 1 rocket stage)
- Grade 2 - 300% Increase Velocity, expends 3x Limpets per shot (1 prospector and 2x rocket stages)
- Grade 3 - 400% Increase Velocity, expends 4x Limpets per shot (1 prospector and 3x rocket stages)
- Prospector Limpet Claim Marker (Synthesis) - This added synthesis option allows for scout ships and all mining vessels equipped with a prospector limpet marker the added sub function to synthesize a Prospector Claim Marker Limpet and the additional function to activate the marker signal. After synthesizing, this makes the next marker launched a Claim Marker. Once attached to the asteroid the added function once the Claim Marker is selected, allows for the controller to ignite a white phosphorous flare that burns white hot and is capable of being picked up on other ships sensors, effectively marking it for other mining craft. This is especially useful in conjunction with the Ship Launched Mining Vessels or when working with other support mining ships. The grade determines the duration of the white phosphorus burn duration. However, with each Claim Marker fired, a Phosphorus Component is expended, miners and scouts should take care to mark their Claims well. Once the option to ignite the signal is initiated, the ability to identify the internal properties of the asteroid are lost and the prospector limpet no longer counts toward the maximum number of limpest that can be analyzed.
- Grade 1 - 5:00 Duration Mark
- Grade 2 - 10:00 Duration Mark
- Grade 3 - 15:00 Duration Mark
- Asteroid Landing Computer (Standard Docking Computer Modification) - modification of the existing docking computer system changes the Standard Docking Computer to now allow automation of standard landing on Asteroids that are spinning.
- CMDRs will select the spinning asteroid, lower their landing gear, and once the throttles are Zero'd the Docking Computer will take over and land the Ship on the Asteroid
- This will facilitate using both the Surface Extraction System and the Perpendicular Surface Mining Laser Mount to deeply mine Asteroids.
- If CMDRs do not have Surface Extraction System, then CMDRs are advised to detach and collect Asteroid Fragments from a safe operating distance to reduce the loss of Collector Limpets
- CMDRs may find that hiding from pirates by attaching themselves to an Asteroid significantly masks their signature
- Or provide them a more defensive position by Turtling down and waiting for the Authorities to arrive
- Perpendicular (Downward Pointing) Surface Mining Laser Mount - Pivot mount that repositions the mining laser perpendicular, or Downward pointing to the current configuration in a fixed position. Some mounts simply won't work, for these situations, the laser would simply fix 90 degrees from the perpendicular and fire in a tangent direction.
- Mounts on the undercarriage of the ship will now point directly downward when fired.
- Allowing for mining while landing gear is deployed.
- CMDRs can achieve deeper penetration by continuously mining the same spot while stationary.
- Landed stationary position allows for greater amounts of fragments to be extracted from Asteroids, Moons, and Planets.
- Grade 1 - Small Mining Laser Mount
- Grade 2 - Medium Mining Laser Mount
- Grade 3 - Large Mining Laser Mount
- Grade 4 - Huge Mining Laser Mount
- Mining Laser Rating Modification - Rebuilds the mining laser from the ground up. Increased thermal load allows for faster Asteroid Fragment extraction, but also increases Power Draw and Mass.
- Grade 1: Modifies the Mining laser to C Rating
- Grade 2: Modifies the Mining laser to B Rating
- Grade 3: Modifies the Mining laser to A Rating
Class Rating Mass (T) Integrity Power Draw Weapon Mode Armor Pen Thermal Load Value (Cr) Lance D 2.oo A 0.70 Fixed D 3.00 13,600 Lance C 2.00 A 1.05 Fixed D 4.00 Lance B 2.00 A 1.40 Fixed D 6.00 Lance A 2.00 A 1.23 Fixed D 5.00 1 D 2.oo A 0.50 Fixed D 1.00 6,800 1 C 2.oo A 0.75 Fixed D 1.50 1 B 2.oo A 1.00 Fixed D 2.00 1 A 2.oo A 0.88 Fixed D 1.75 2 D 2.oo A 0.75 Fixed D 2.00 22,576 2 C 2.oo A 1.13 Fixed D 3.00 2 B 2.oo A 1.50 Fixed D 4.00 2 A 2.oo A 1.31 Fixed D 3.50 3 D 7.00 A 1.20 Fixed D 5.00 180,656 3 C 7.00 A 1.80 Fixed D 7.50 3 B 7.00 A 2.40 Fixed D 10.00 3 A 7.00 A 2.10 Fixed D 8.75 4 D 14.00 A 1.92 Fixed D 9.90 722,624 4 C 14.00 A 2.88 Fixed D 14.85 4 B 14.00 A 3.84 Fixed D 19.80 4 A 14.00 A 3.36 Fixed D 17.33
- Overcharged Mining Laser - manufacturers wiring is replaced with weapons grade high conductivity wiring, allowing for increased power draw, larger magnification crystals are required to output the larger power draw but at the cost of reduced range. The overall effect is a more power mining laser that can cut through asteroids more quickly at the cost of increased power draw and reduced operational range.
| GRADE 1 | MIN | MAX | GRADE 4 | MIN | MAX | |
| Thermal Load | 5% | 20% | Thermal Load | 50% | 80% | |
| Range | -5% | -10% | Range | -20% | -25% | |
| Distributor Draw | 30% | 60% | Distributor Draw | 20% | 40% | |
| GRADE 2 | MIN | MAX | GRADE 5 | MIN | MAX | |
| Thermal Load | 10% | 40% | Thermal Load | 70% | 100% | |
| Range | -10% | -15% | Range | -25% | -30% | |
| Distributor Draw | 25% | 50% | Distributor Draw | 20% | 30% | |
| GRADE 3 | MIN | MAX | ||||
| Thermal Load | 30% | 60% | ||||
| Range | -15% | -20% | ||||
| Distributor Draw | 20% | 45% |
- Efficient Mining Laser Modification - Ceramic internals with increased high conductive wiring are used to route internal heat production from ships internals to optimize energy utilization, this is achieved by replacing standard manufacturing grade wiring, allowing for significant reductions in both Power Draw and Distributor Draw but sacrifices a small amount of Thermal Load. CMDRs who utilize Bioreducing Lichen and want to keep a Low Thermal Profile can utilize mining lasers to cool their ship.
| GRADE 1 | MIN | MAX | GRADE 4 | MIN | MAX | |
| Thermal Load | 0% | 15% | Thermal Load | -10% | -20% | |
| Power Draw | -50% | -100% | Power Draw | -200% | -250% | |
| Distributor Draw | -5% | 5% | Distributor Draw | -10% | -20% | |
| GRADE 2 | MIN | MAX | GRADE 5 | MIN | MAX | |
| Thermal Load | 5% | -10% | Thermal Load | -15% | -25% | |
| Power Draw | -100% | -150% | Power Draw | -250% | -300% | |
| Distributor Draw | 0% | -10% | Distributor Draw | -15% | -25% | |
| GRADE 3 | MIN | MAX | ||||
| Thermal Load | -5% | -15% | ||||
| Power Draw | -150% | -200% | ||||
| Distributor Draw | -5% | -15% |
Possible Experimental Effects for Mining Equipment:
- Plasma Torch - Amplifies the mining laser with plasma to extract engineering components and metals from Salvages and Wrecks.
- Plasma modification allows Mining Lasers to produce a small amount of damage
- Targeting modified equipment, results in engineering components that used in its construction from being dropped.
- The number of components extracted is determined by % damage
- 25% = 1 Component/Metal
- 50% = 2 Components/Metals
- 75% = 3 Components/Metals
- 100% = 4 Components/Metals
- Increases heat-up rate and power draw while firing.
- Thermal Conduit - Experimental upgrade that increases asteroid fragment yield (%) output based on heat level of the firing ship. Similar to a Heat/Thermal Attack but instead refocused to be utilized for mining. A retooling of military tech. Opens up the use of Silent Running to miners by intentionally driving their internal temperature up in order to improve yield.
- Inertial Impact - Experimental upgrade that increases the chance for multiple fragments extracted at a time at the cost of decreased fragment rate by altering the pulsatile harmonic of the Mining Laser
- Target Lock Breaker - Experimental upgrade that scrambles target lock on successful strikes against enemy sensors modules. It does not inflict damage against the enemies modules but only temporary causes a thermal white out temporarily disabling sensors and targeting. Cannot penetrate through shields.
- Focused Penetration - Experimental upgrade that capable of penetrating and overheating modules and internal components along its trajectory to temporarily overheat. This causes modules to reboot temporary without taking damage at the cost of increased significant power draw and heat-up of firing ship. Cannot penetrate through shields.
New Mining Utility Mounts:
Microbial Furnace - (Utility Mount)
“Bio-engineered microbes that separate specific elements from powdered ore.
Produced on high tech worlds, their name is historic having replaced thermal furnaces for the refining or many ores.”
- What do they do: Convert Minerals to Metal equivalents Over Time
- Why I think it will be good for Elite Dangerous? It adds a little bit of increased value while mining and solves the issue of continuously purging unwanted minerals. This may also eliminate the necessity of abandoning minearls and Limpets that pick up unwanted minerals.
DETAILS:
- A Molecular Weight Percentage of mineral tonnage is returned into the Refinery Bins as un-refined metal.
- A “No Bins Available” message is displayed if there are no corresbonding bins in the refinery that match the Converted Ore.
- The grade level determines the rate of processing in which the ore is retrieved from each Mineral tonnage and converted back into un-refined metal ore.
- Minerals are selected from the right submenu, once selected, the CMDR selects to feed the Mineral into the Microbial Furnace
- The Microbial Furnace removes 1 Tonnage from the Mineral selected at a time. Once the mineral type is selected it automatically feeds each subsequent ton.
- A small icon is shown on the refinery sub menu to indicate that the Microbial Furnace is operating.
- Example:
- 50 Tonnes of Coltran in a ‘A Rated Microbial Furnace’
- 50 T x 20 sec = 1000 seconds = 16 mins 40 seconds
- 50 T x (0.70% Tantalum by MW) = 35 Tonnes of Tantalium
- 50 T of Coltran @ 1,444 Cr = 72,200 Cr
- 35 T of Tantalium @ 4,056 Cr = 141,960 Cr
- Conclusion: For 16 mins and 40 seconds of using the Microbial Furnace approximately ~70,000 Cr of value were added and 15 T of cargo space was freed
- What about 2x Furnaces were equiped? Two Furnaces would allow for the CMDR to convert two minerals at a time, or half the speed of the current mineral selected. Each Microbial Furnace would abstract 1 ton at a time wile processing through the mineral.
- What if the CMDR keeps mining the mineral? The system would continue to process the selected mineral until it was completely exhausted, or the Microbial Furnace was turned off/delected. Once turned off any unprocessed Mineral is dumped as exhaust.
| Class | Rating | Mass (T) | Integrity | Power Draw | Conversion Rate Multiplier | Process Time | Total Time / tonnage | Price (CR) |
| 0 | E | 0.50 | A | 0.200 | 5.000 | 20 sec | 100 sec | 40,000 |
| 0 | D | 1.00 | A | 0.200 | 4.000 | 20 sec | 80 sec | 80,000 |
| 0 | C | 2.00 | A | 0.200 | 3.000 | 20 sec | 60 sec | 200,000 |
| 0 | B | 3.00 | A | 0.200 | 2.000 | 20 sec | 40 sec | 450,000 |
| 0 | A | 3.50 | A | 0.200 | 1.000 | 20 sec | 20 sec | 1,200,000 |
- What is converted: (All Estimated Prices are based on Average Cr)
| Source Mineral: | Converted to Ore: |
| Bauxite: 147 Cr | (45%) Aluminum: 327 Cr |
| Bertandite: 2,541 Cr | (15%) Beryllium: 8,367 Cr |
| Bromellite: 7,102 Cr | (36%) Beryllium: 8,367 Cr |
| Coltran: 1,444 Cr | (70%) Tantalum: 4,056 Cr |
| Cryolite: 2,647 Cr | (12%) Aluminum: 327 Cr |
| Gallite: 1,959 Cr | (35%) Gallium: 5,259 Cr (32%) Copper: 464 Cr |
| Indite: 2,248 Cr | (55%) Indium: 5,902 Cr |
| Jadeite: 14,239 Cr | (11%) Aluminum: 327 Cr |
| Lepidolite: 613 Cr | (7%) Aluminum: 327 Cr (3%) Lithium: 1,640 Cr |
| Lithium Hydroxide: 5,555 Cr | (29%) Lithium 1,640 Cr |
| Low Temperature Diamond: 61,235 Cr | (100%) Carbon (Component) |
| Methane Clathrate: 573 Cr | (3%) Carbon (Component) |
| Methanol Monohydrate: 2,405 Cr | (32%) Carbon (Component) |
| Moissanite: 8,238 Cr | (30%) Carbon (Component) |
| Painite: 41,228 Cr | (2%) Titanium: 1,009 Cr (40%) Aluminum: 327 Cr |
| Pyrophiyllite: 1,868 Cr | (15%) Aluminum: 327 Cr |
| Rutile: 333 Cr | (60%) Titanium: 1,009 Cr |
| Taaffeite: 22,002 Cr | (2%) Beryllium: 8,367 Cr (39%) Aluminum: 327 Cr |
| Uraninite: 924 Cr | (88%) Uranium 2,767 Cr |
Resonating Seperators - (Utility Mount)
“Self-calibrating tuned oscillators that resonate at a range of specific frequencies, used at refineries for bulk processing of ores.”
- What do they do: Increase the Ore (%) of Content Harvested per Asteroid Fragment
- Why I think it will be good for Elite Dangerous? Offers an increase in ore content per asteroid fragment harvested at the cost of increased power draw. Miners operating multi laser configurations will have to consider increased depletion of their power distributor, longer duration of time required to complete mining if power limited, and the addition of loss of a utility mount that may have been previously reserved for Chaff or Shield Booster.
DETAILS:
- Similar to Spectroscopy, the optic sensor of the Resonating Seperator captures emission wavelengths as excited electrons reduce to ground state from asteroid fragment as the mining laser heats up each fragment.
- Light emission is based on each materials emission spectrum line; the sensor captures this information and is analyzed. The reverse spectra is used to determine the absorption line spectrum, representing the wavelengths of light best absorbed by the material and what the oscilations of wavelength needed for each asteroid fragment.
- The Resonating Seperator uses quantum harmonic oscilation to adjust the frequency and amplitude of mining lasers to optomize ore extraction by maximizing the quantum excitation characteristics of the ore.
- Visually the continued adjustment of the Mining Laser is observable by oscilations mining laser colors, this requires increased power usage while scanning.
- Behaves similarly to a Kill Warrant Scanner requiring the CMDR to scan while firing of mining laser.
| Class | Rating | Mass (T) | Integrity | Power Draw / Mining Laser | Scanner Range | Thermal Load | Ore % Increase | Price (CR) |
| 0 | E | 1.50 | A | 0.300 | 0.50 | 1 | 2% | 25,000 |
| 0 | D | 1.50 | A | 0.600 | 0.75 | 1 | 4% | 50,000 |
| 0 | C | 1.50 | A | 0.900 | 1.00 | 1 | 6% | 150,000 |
| 0 | B | 1.50 | A | 1.800 | 1.25 | 1 | 8% | 400,000 |
| 0 | A | 1.50 | A | 3.600 | 1.50 | 1 | 10% | 1,200,000 |
Advanced Catalysers - (Utility Mount)
“Engineered catalysing agents, used by refineries to improve the efficiency of a large number of chemical reactions.”
- What do they do: Increase the Metal Yield from each Fragment Refined
- Why I think it will be good for Elite Dangerous? Provides a small increase in the amount of Metal Ore refined per asteroid fragment at the cost of increased power demand and loss of a utility mount. The overall benefit is reducing the time required harvesting by improving the quality of the refinery process at increased risk of loss of shield boosters or chaff.
DETAILS:
- The addition of an advance catalyser adds and mixes catalysts to the refinery which reduce activation energy of the reaction allowing for the more energy to be utilized to push the reactants further toward product, resulting in increased yield beyond what is initially expected.
- Because catalysts reduce activation energy without participating in the reaction, they can be used indefinitely.
- Grade determines the percent increase in Metal Yield % per Asteroid Fragment.
- Example: Asteroid Fragment when scanned shows 12% Titanium, but when the Refinery processes the fragment, the amount deposited is increased 3% by use of Grade C Advanced Catalyzer, 15% Titanium is added to the Bin.
| Class | Rating | Mass (T) | Integrity | Power Draw | Thermal Load | Metal Ore % Increase | Price (CR) |
| 0 | E | 0.50 | A | 0.200 | 1 | 1% | 25,000 |
| 0 | D | 1.00 | A | 0.400 | 1 | 2% | 75,000 |
| 0 | C | 1.50 | A | 0.600 | 1 | 3% | 150,000 |
| 0 | B | 3.00 | A | 1.200 | 1 | 4% | 450,000 |
| 0 | A | 3.50 | A | 1.500 | 1 | 5% | 1,300,000 |
Mineral Extractors - (Utility Mount)
“Industrially produced 'grey goo' micro devices that are injected into minerals to separate specific constituents from mixed ores along grain boundaries. Extraction sites that utilise mineral extractors in their processes are significantly more efficient.”
- What do they do: Increase the Mineral Yield from each Fragment Refined
- Why I think it will be good for Elite Dangerous? Similar to the Advanced Catalyzers, provides a small increase in the amount of Mineral Ore refined per asteroid fragment at the cost of increased power demand and loss of a utility mount. The overall benefit is reducing the time required harvesting by improving the quality of the refinery process at increased risk of loss of shield boosters or chaff. .
DETAILS:
- The addition of a Mineral Extractor adds and mixes catalysts to the refinery which reduce activation energy of the reaction allowing for the more energy to be utilized to push the reactants further toward product, resulting in increased yield beyond what is initially expected.
- Because catalysts reduce activation energy without participating in the reaction, they can be used indefinitely.
- Grade determines the percent increase in Mineral Yield % per Asteroid Fragment.
- Example: Asteroid Fragment when scanned shows 12% Uraninite, but when the Refinery processes the fragment, the amount deposited is increased 3% by use of Grade C Advanced Catalyzer, 15% Uraninite is added to the Bin.
| Class | Rating | Mass (T) | Integrity | Power Draw | Thermal Load | Metal Ore % Increase | Price (CR) |
| 0 | E | 0.50 | A | 0.200 | 1 | 1% | 25,000 |
| 0 | D | 1.00 | A | 0.400 | 1 | 2% | 75,000 |
| 0 | C | 1.50 | A | 0.600 | 1 | 3% | 150,000 |
| 0 | B | 3.00 | A | 1.200 | 1 | 4% | 450,000 |
| 0 | A | 3.50 | A | 1.500 | 1 | 5% | 1,300,000 |
Bioreducing Lichen - (Utility Mount)
“Genetically engineered lichen used to prepare an asteroid field or broken surface rocks for industrial extraction. Once deployed the lichen will spread over the field and concentrate specific minerals, changing colour in the process, allowing for efficient extraction.”
- What do they do: Increase the Total Number of Asteroid Fragments extracted after a period of Time
- Macro usage: Distributed by mining stations, large refining stations that are dug out of large asteroids and on the surface of nearby moons. These locations glow in a variety of fluorescent colors depending on the minerals within the ring and on the surface of the moon. A rich tapestry of colors to beheld both on the exterior of the station and on the interior as well, ore dust covering the mining surfaces and building up in the recesses. The glow is easily targetable from supercruise.
- Micro usage: Distributed by a pressurized container that sprays in all directions from the ship with limited range, covering the surface of nearby asteroids and causing them to slowly changing in color to a fluorescent hue depending on the contents of the asteroid. If a passing CMDR were close to the ring, the glow is targetable from supercruise, increasing the chance of piracy drop-ins
- Why I think it will be good for Elite Dangerous? Adds the ability to increase asteroid fragment yield in a lore friendly way. Increases the risk of random pirate and miner encounters while also increasing the potential need for combat escorts while mining using Bioreducing Lichen. Other miners will want to drop in and harvest what CMDRs have cultivated. Pirates can now spot the lichen from supercruise. Furthermore, this introduces the beauty of Large Asteroid Mining Stations in their entire splendor. The intriguing and flourescent beauty of mining refinerees and moon outposts. Adds the potential for missons requiring CMDRs to distribute Lichen within an Asteroid Ring. CMDRs interested in mining piracy can fly close to the rings and search for Bioreducing Lichen signatures to target and then drop in on.
DETAILS:
- Bioreducing Lichen containers behave similar to Chaff Launchers, as they have a fixed maximum ammo capacity; but instead launch a pressurized canister that spins in a sperical-rotational pattern, as the lichen contents are discharged.
- The grade of the Bioreducing Lichen determines the duration in which the container spins, increasing the range of distribution, but also increasing the signature of Bioreduced Lichen detectable from supercruise.
- Asteroid texture patterns changes to being speckled with Biolumenescent bioreducing lichen over a period of time, it glows for a period of time before the lichen starve themselves and then die, returning to the original asteroid texture. The time between the maximum glow and death is a period in which it is detectable from supercruise.
| Class | Rating | Mass (T) | Integrity | Power Draw | Total # Asteroid Fragment s Increased | Ammo | Max Ammo Capacity | Effective Range (Km) | Drop-in Chance | Price (CR) |
| 0 | E | 0.50 | A | 0.200 | 30% | 1 | 10 | 1.0 | 2% | 200,000 |
| 0 | D | 1.00 | A | 0.200 | 30% | 1 | 10 | 2.0 | 4% | 400,000 |
| 0 | C | 2.00 | A | 0.200 | 30% | 1 | 10 | 4.0 | 6% | 800,000 |
| 0 | B | 3.00 | A | 0.200 | 30% | 1 | 10 | 6.0 | 8% | 1,600,000 |
| 0 | A | 3.50 | A | 0.200 | 30% | 1 | 10 | 8.0 | 10% | 4,500,000 |
Mining Mission Recommendations:
Currently there are some issues regarding the adequacy of mining missions.
Available only at the Refinery Stations
Delivery Missions that Scale Per Tonne:
- Acceptance of this mission guarantees a High Value for a particular Metal/Mineral for a period of time: 24 hours, 1 week. CMDRs don't have to worry about collecting a large number of Missions, they simply have to find the right mission for them. While this mission is accepted the CMDR can turn in any number of tonnes of metals/minerals toward the mission by selling them in the stations commodities market, there they will receive the market value for their tonnage, and the number of tonnes submitted will be added to their mission total. At the end of the given time period, the mission is rendered complete and the extra reward can be picked up at the station.
- These type of missions scale with CMDR based on how much time they want to put into harvesting a particular metal/mineral as well as the size of their cargo space.
- CMDRs can hold 3-4 different weekly contracts of this nature in a given week and sell them at one station.
- This corrects the random effects of non-deterministic issues with resource gathering.
- This corrects inadequacies of the lack of proportionate scaling of delivery missions and can be used to direct CMDRs toward other Asteroid rings and belts as well. For example, CMDRs typically wouldn't harvest Lithium, but if I have a mission that will pay me 3x the market value of Lithium and with its more frequent abundance, harvesting large batches of it becomes more appealing.
- Completion of missions should trigger the next weekly mission event, a second tier goal with a newly extended time requirement.
- With each subsequent mission completion, the CMDR has the option to either accept the new contract requirement or maintain contract as is.
- Acceptting a Contract may progress as follows:
- Contract Tier 1: Delivery of 100 Osmium for X credits in 1 week... once complete, the player may receive a mission update requesting ...
- Contract Tier 2: Delivery of 200 Osmium for X + Y credits or a similar Contract of 100 Osmium and 100 Silver to be completed in 1 week... they can accept the new contract requirements or they disregard and choose to maintain 100 Osmium for the next week for X credits, if they choose to maintain the contract may grow at the end of the next week, but not until the week or time period has elapsed. This allows for CMDRs who like mining sometimes to mine for a bit, then complete missions but still have the freedom to go on to do other things as well. If they accept the mission they may be informed of the opportunity to progress to weekly Contract 3:
- Contract Tier 3: Delivery of 500 Osmium for BIG X Credits, it has taken a long time maintaining this weekly contract but now the CMDR is ready to deliver, but the payout is big.
- Contract Tier 4 and 5: Begin to get ridiculous, but the payout is enormous. The idea here is to have high Tiers that are beyond the capability of just one miner, but by working together with other miners, anything is possible.
- Failure to complete the weekly mission results in termination of the Contract.
- The ultimate contract would come in the form of Painite and Low Temperature Diamond Contracts, take these and grow wealthy or despair.
- Bring back these Deliver Missions and make them worth CMDRs while. I know these are rare, but if the Delivery of 10 tonnes of Diamonds is 4 million credits, these type of missions become very lucrative and very enticing.
- This provides a high value option for low cargo or selective harvesting miners, while making the 'Havest Everything' miner consider sticking in the field a bit longer to find all that is necessary.
- Small to Medium Ships with Mining Lances and Small Refineries could dart from Asteroid to Asteroid searching for just the rare commodities, stack up with a small refinery, and obtain a great payout for their time searching.
- This allows for the fast paced nimble miner who is only looking to score big, and allows for the tried and true miner who stays in for hours to have big payouts for those rare to find items.
- For the life of me I have no idea why NPCs would ever mine here, it makes no god damn sense at all. There is absolutely no benefit to going into these locations! The only people that do any harvesting here are CMDRs looking to score bounties.
- Lets make them worth while then:
- Resource Extraction Site [Low]: metal/mineral content is HIGH within the Asteroids
- Resource Extraction Site: metal/mineral content is twice normal expected percentage
- Resource Extraction Site [High]: metals/mineral content is rich with increased high value commodities, 3Ps and Low Temperature Diamonds
- Resource Extraction Site [Hazardous]: Twice normal expected percentages with Increased High value commodities
- The NPC miners should be loaded to the gills with high value resources too, this would make Piracy players strongly consider seeking these miners out and robbing them for their valuable cargo.
- Mission updates based on what is being collected, players may start extracting resources to complete delivery of mission X, but based on what they're collecting receive a mission update that asks if they would pick up X and Y
- This is convenient because they just so happened to start collecting Y too, fascinating!
- The reward for collecting X + Y is a great incentive to stick around and fulfill the bonus requirements, if the CMDR decides they don't want to waste the storage space for Y then they simply turn the mission in as is and collect their previously agreed upon price.
Ship Launched Mining Vessels (SLMV):
Sampling Mining Laser:
- Small Class 1 Fixed Mining Laser consistent with current purchasable product in Outfitting
- If aligned to Power Play, the Mining Lance is a possible option
- This allows players and SLMV to verify that asteroid detected has correct metal/mineral detected by Magnetic Detection System
- Use of a Magnetic Emitter coil with induction-balance discriminators, these have been around for over 1,000 years.
- This is exceptionally old tried and true technology that allows for metal detectors to discriminate between various metals and hone in a specific metal based on its magnetic signature is now used is rapid and mobile Ship Launched Mining Vessels..
- These have been employed as for Aeromagnetic Survey devices and use a magnetometer to located desired materials.
- Small scout ships are capable of piloting throughout a field and can identify which asteroid contains a specific metal/mineral.
- Unfortunately it cannot discriminate content, a sample must be take and the fragment must be evaluated as necessary
- Mother Mining Ship can refine a set of Fragments, the CMDR can then switch to his Ship Launched Mining Vessel and scout for an asteroid based on a specific mineral/metal based on acoustic returns from the Magnetometer. As the scout ship approaches the intensity of the frequency will increase. Each metal/mineral can easily have their own specific return frequency, but unfortunately only one frequency can be set at a time.
- Additionally the metal content of the asteroid also determines the detectable magnetic fields, so while things like Low Temperature Diamonds due have carbon and diamonds can have magnetic fields, their quantity is low and a scout vessel will need to be close to asteroids to detect a positive reading
- CMDRs will still use a Prospector Limpet to harvest the minerals, this is due to the increased number of fragments that can be obtained by using a well rated Prospector
- Hired Pilots will also be able to navigate the field and report back once a positive identification is made, but contracts with Ship Launched Pilots may be cost a percentage of the traded value or a flat operating rate.
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